The first couple of months of a new startup is usually a strong indication of how far you can take your business and how early you can promote it from being a startup to a fully-fledged business. For example, if you’re not growing your business and networking with clients within the first month, then you’re likely going to fail unless you have meetings and talks going on that can secure you new customers.

Sadly, one of the things that many startups neglect is their website. It doesn’t matter how young your business is, every single business is expected to have an online presence in some shape or form. It could just be a social media account on Twitter or Facebook, or it could even be a simple website that just displays your plans, contact information and other useful tidbits.

Here are five reasons why your startup needs a website right now.

You Need to Be Memorable

One of the biggest failures that most businesses experience is a lack of exposure and being forgettable. A catchy slogan, memorable brand name and a well-designed logo are paramount to global success. Fortunately, a startup doesn’t have to worry about those issues yet (it’s still a good idea to plan ahead, however) but what you do need to worry about is having a website and social media accounts. If people don’t have a website to store in their bookmarks or share with friends to talk about your business, then you’re going to fail.

Plan for Success

If you aren’t planning ahead for success then you’re planning for failure. Just don’t get complacent and hire a web developer worth thousands of dollars before you’ve even made your first sale. You need to plan ahead so that when you do start to gain more recognition, you have a website that lets your customers browse your products and find your contact information.

Show Your Products

You might have an innovative idea and great products that you talk about all the time, but what’s the point of having those products if no one can see them? You need an online website to showcase your products so that your customers know what they’re buying. Don’t say something like “our products are made with high-quality materials and expertly crafted”, show them your product by adding photos from various angles or even record a video showcasing the product.

Open All Hours

Unlike brick and mortar stores, your online presence is open all hours for people to browse your wares and make orders. No matter what time it is or what part of the world they’re in, your customers will always be able to browse your products, place orders and share your products if you have a website.

Customer Support

Customer support has been proven to make your business run more efficiently. This is because you’re getting feedback from customers that use your products in everyday applications instead of test scenarios. If there’s something off with your product, your customers will be the first to know and without a website, they have no way to leave reviews or contact you about changes they’d like to see or problems they have with your product.